1. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
2. To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
3. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
4. To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
5. To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
6. To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
7. To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
8. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
9. To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
10. To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
11. To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
12. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than twoYears;
13. To provide and maintain a Navy;
14. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
15. To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
17. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
18. To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
1. Congress has the power to make and collect taxes, to pay debts, and to use taxes to protect the people. All federal (national) taxes must be the same throughout the United States.
2. Congress has the right to borrow money for the United States.
3. Congress has the power to control trade with foreign nations, between the states, and with the Indians. (Trade covers goods, people, and information, and the things that move them. That gives Congress control over everything from trucks and trains to roads to telephone and television hookups.)
4. Congress can decide which people who were not born in the United States can become citizens. It can set the rules that say what a person must do to become a citizen. Congress can pass laws about bankruptcy throughout the United States.
5. Congress has the right to coin (make) money and say how much it is worth. Congress also decides standards for weights and measures. (This ensures that a dollar, an ounce, or a mile will be the same in every state.)
6. Congress decides how to punish counterfeiters (those who make or use fake money).
7. Congress can set up post offices and build roads.
8. Congress can give copyrights to authors and patents to inventors so that they will have income from their ideas.
9. Congress can create any federal courts we need below the level of the Supreme Court.
10. Congress decides what piracy is and how to punish it. It decides punishment for crimes on the high seas because those crimes do not happen in a particular state.
11. Congress has the right to declare war.
12. Congress has the right to organize and pay an army. Money spent on the armed services has to be voted on every two years. (This gives Congress the power to draft citizens. It gives Congress power to buy what the armed forces need. This way, Congress keeps control over the army.)
13. Congress can organize and pay a navy.
14. Congress makes the rules for the armed forces.
15. Congress can call out the National Guard to enforce laws, stop riots, or stop invasions. (The National guard is made up of the militia, or citizen soldiers, of the states.)
16. Congress may organize the National Guard, buy arms for it, and make rules on how it should be run. But the officers are appointed by each state. Training is conducted by each state, also.
17. Congress passes the laws for the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) because it is the headquarter of the national government. Congress passes laws for federal property such as army forts or national parks.
18. Congress can make any laws which are necessary and proper to carry out the powers given to the government of the United States. (This is called the elastic clause. It lets Congress stretch its power to meet the nation's changing needs.)